


Sometimes a Reminder is the Best Gift

by Ononymous



Series: Christmas 2018 Stories and Requests [2]
Category: Deltarune (Video Game), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, Gen, Pre-Deltarune
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-28 00:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17172137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ononymous/pseuds/Ononymous
Summary: Ever since that day, the pointless arguments were happening more often. Asriel had finally perfected his coping mechanism, but it left something out. Someone. Someone important. And then Asriel received a reminder of what mattered.





	Sometimes a Reminder is the Best Gift

**Author's Note:**

> Original request: DR story where Toriel and Asgore begin to fight over the holidays in front of young Asriel and younger Kris. Asriel decides to be a good brother and get Kris a present, and Kris in turn makes something for Asriel. Thought it'd be cute.

" _Um, hello all you darling viewers out there, and welcome to HappyPlays. Today I continue to hide myself from view and rely on my not-too-awful voice, and resume my playthrough of Dragon Blazers II. Okay, if you'll remember, the swamp mansion finally collapsed - good thing too, its decorations were really drab - so I'm gonna head back to town and sell all the loot, and see if I'm high enough level for the grassland manor. Probably not, this game's really hard, but I gotta check first, right? Now..._ "

The shouting started up again, drowning out Happy's voice from the speakers. With a sigh, Asriel turned up the volume. He really hoped Santa brought those horn-friendly headphones he'd asked for. It would make focusing on these videos and his games easier, or even just to listen to some music while he studied. He'd grown used to the arguments, so they were something of a background noise at the moment, but the volume was still enough of a distraction on its own. And just as he thought it, a different sound distracted him. The door opening and closing. And a deep sniff.

"Kris? I thought you were playing outside."

Kris didn't respond. Instead they went over to their bed, climbed on and sat upright. Asriel almost returned to watching his video, but Kris started doing something odd. They were clutching their hands, wringing them, and rocking back and forth. A particularly loud shout from below caused them to flinch.

"Oh. They started when you were in front of them, right?" Kris nodded timidly. "Were they working on the cranberry sauce?" More nods. "I've noticed that. Preparing food makes it more likely to happen."

These words were no comfort. Kris released their hands and now covered their ears. They also began to mutter, though what they were saying was even beyond Asriel's ability to hear.

"Hey, hey! It's okay, Kris." He had rushed over to pat their back gently. "I know it's not nice to hear them like that, but it's not about us." For all the uncertainty in the family these days, that was still a rock solid foundation. "They tell us every time, right? They say they love us completely, and you know how bad a liar Dad is. They just... they just gotta figure some stuff out between them, that's all. Makes sense, after what happened."

"...but what if they can't...?"

The question didn't shatter the positive veneer Asriel had been putting up, but he found himself unable to continue. The stalemate was broken, not at all in his favour, by a slamming coming from next door, and after a venomous silence, the soft sound of sobbing coming from where the shouting once had. Asriel found himself patting thin air, for at this development Kris burrowed under their blankets.

"Kris, it's okay, come on out." But they refused. The learned numbness he had cultivated was faltering. "Please? Oh, gosh, what do I do?"

His fuzzy foot tapped the ground. He'd accepted the limits of his power to intervene when his parents got like this, but to see Kris like that was like starting all over again. What if they had to start figuring stuff out? And what if they couldn't? Would... would it be his fault? The weight of his suddenly realised mistake, his neglected responsibility, was like a vice in his chest. And then, invention's mother breathed life through him.

"Oh, I know! One minute."

The quivering lump of blankets didn't acknowledge him as he left the room. He crept down the stairs, though the kitchen - utterly ignored by the hulking frame of his father sitting at the table - into the living room, grabbing something from under the tree, and making the return trek equally silently, filled with determination.

"Kris! I've got something for you."

The quivering stopped immediately, but it was still a couple of minutes before any sign of brown hair emerged from the blankets. What little of their face was apparent showed mostly curiosity, which was just what Asriel had hoped for. He held out what he'd retrieved, a blue and yellow present.

"I know it's a week early, but I think you need something now. Go on, open it!"

They were still reluctant to do so. Asriel just continued to smile patiently until they yielded, taking the package from them and unwrapping it as carefully as their clumsy fingers allowed, as if the tearing would alert their parents, which wasn't an irrational concern. Finally they took out a bundle of white cloth.

"It's a new winter hat, see? I saw how you kept rubbing your ears when we went shopping last month when it got windy, and it looked really uncomfortable. See these flaps? They fall down over your ears, and that keeps the wind out. Try it on!"

Kris was a little hesitant at first, but after fiddling with one of the flaps for a couple of minutes, they suddenly thrust the hat on in a single movement. It would have been more dramatic if they hadn't put it on at just the right angle for one of the flaps to cover their face, Asriel suppressed a chuckle as Kris twisted the hat into proper alignment, and the laughter was truly banished once they finished.

"Woah, I didn't even think of that. Those flaps kinda look like our ears." He flicked at one of his own. "Check it out!"

Kris scurried over to the mirror on the closet door, and stared, transfixed, at the hat's effect on their appearance. They copied their brother's earlier flicking, otherwise standing perfectly still.

"Well? D'you like it?"

Kris turned back to Asriel, face not revealing anything. Then they nodded so wildly and enthusiastically their new "ears" went flopping in every direction. For the briefest moment, all family worries were gone.

"Hee hee hee, that's really funny! I should video that. Hope you're feeling- hey, what are you...?"

Kris had suddenly ripped the hat off and threw it on their bed, then hurried over to the bedroom door and left. Asriel felt like he had no time whatsoever to wonder what was happening before the door opened again, and Kris walked in with a badly wrapped blue and red present, one Asriel had to catch for they had tossed it to him the moment they were clear of the door.

"You want me to open mine early too?" he said quietly. "Well thank you Kris, but I'm okay to wait for-"

"Please."

Kris was normally silent, but much like their earlier question, their decisions to speak impaired a lot of authority. Asriel's resistance less crumbled and more had been vapourised in the face of that plea. So much like their younger sibling, he carefully unwrapped his present, easier for him both for his more developed fine motor skills and the shoddiness of the wrapping.

"This is-?!"

The object in the box was soft to the touch, and a vibrant green. Pulling it out, Asriel's green eyes met plastic blue ones, a small smile sewn beneath a disproportionately large snout. He examined his gift from every angle, the impractical saddle strapped to his back, the stumpy tail, and the unusual blob of red attached to his head.

"This is... The official one. But the limited one with his friend's hat. I thought they stopped making these!" He looked between the soft toy and Kris. "Did Mom and Dad help you find this?" They shook their head. "Then how were you able to...?"

Kris didn't answer. For Kris, that was just as good as speaking. The wonder Asriel felt at the unexpected gift rent a fatal crack in the dam he'd been relying on, and while the vice in his chest was released, it still hurt intensely, and the room became blurry.

" _*Sniff*_ Big... _*Sniff_ * Big kids don't cry..."

Something seized his waist. Kris had put their hat back on and were now trying to squeeze the life out of him with a hug. That act demolished the dam, and tears matted the pristine white fur of Asriel's muzzle, and he returned the hug just as fiercely, trembling a little with each silent sob. It felt like the two of them would never be apart. And an untold amount of time later when they finally did break apart, that bond still felt like it lingered.

"Ha ha... _*Sniff*_ Guess I'm still a crybaby, huh Kris?"

Kris finally smiled at him. As reassuring as it was, it also instilled a little guilt, and Asriel found it didn't take much examination to figure out why.

"Kris, I'm sorry." They looked at him quizzically. "When Mom and Dad have a fight... It's just as scary to me, you know? I've been trying to ignore it when it happens. Watch TV or go online or something. Tell myself they'll calm down and sort it out. But I've been leaving you behind whenever that happens. You must feel all alone when it happens. I bet you're even more scared than I am. I was being a bad brother."

He found his furry hand squeezed tight, a rebuke of his own assessment. He looked at Kris' hat flopping in rhythm to its owner's shakes of the head. However he'd behaved before, the fact he was here for them now was all that mattered to Kris. And therefore it was all that mattered to Asriel.

"Kris, I wanna make a promise. As your big brother I should be looking out for you. So as long as we live together, we'll be there for each other, okay? We don't have to be alone when we get scared. If we call out, somebody will come. I won't leave you alone, you won't leave me alone. Deal?"

The hat flopped again in unreserved assent.

"Great! I've got an idea to make this official." He walked over to his bedside cabinet and fished out a small pile of money. "Mom and Dad probably won't be able to go right now, so how about I take you over to QC's and get us some hot chocolate? My treat!"

His already abused ribs endured another round of affectionate hugs.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think, and thanks for reading!


End file.
